Expo GlassEffect

React components that render a liquid glass effect using iOS's native UIVisualEffectView.

iOS

tvOS

Included in Expo Go

GitHub

npm

Changelog

Bundled version:

~55.0.5

GlassView is only available on iOS 26 and above. It will fallback to regular View on unsupported platforms.

React components that render native iOS liquid glass effect using UIVisualEffectView. Supports customizable glass styles and tint color.

Known issues

The isInteractive prop can only be set once on mount and cannot be changed dynamically after the component has been rendered. If you need to toggle interactive behavior, you must remount the component with a different key.
Setting opacity to 0 on GlassView or any of its parent views causes the glass effect to not render at all. To fade in/out the glass effect, use the built-in animate and animationDuration props in glassEffectStyle instead of changing opacity. If you still want to use opacity, see the opacity animation workaround example. For more details, see Apple's documentation and GitHub issue #41024.

Installation

Terminal

- npx expo install expo-glass-effect

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, make sure to install expo in your project.

Usage

`GlassView`

The GlassView component renders the native iOS glass effect. It supports different glass effect styles and can be customized with tint colors for various aesthetic needs.

Basic GlassView usage

import { StyleSheet, View, Image } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Image
        style={styles.backgroundImage}
        source={{
          uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
        }}
      />

      {/* Basic Glass View */}
      <GlassView style={styles.glassView} />

      {/* Glass View with clear style */}
      <GlassView style={styles.tintedGlassView} glassEffectStyle="clear" />
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    ...StyleSheet.absoluteFill,
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  glassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 100,
    left: 50,
    width: 200,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    padding: 20,
  },
  tintedGlassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 250,
    left: 50,
    width: 200,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
    padding: 20,
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
    color: '#000',
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
});

`GlassContainer`

The GlassContainer component allows you to combine multiple glass views into a combined effect.

GlassContainer example

import { StyleSheet, View, Image } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView, GlassContainer } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function GlassContainerDemo() {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Image
        style={styles.backgroundImage}
        source={{
          uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1547036967-23d11aacaee0?w=400&h=600&fit=crop',
        }}
      />
      <GlassContainer spacing={10} style={styles.containerStyle}>
        <GlassView style={styles.glass1} isInteractive />
        <GlassView style={styles.glass2} />
        <GlassView style={styles.glass3} />
      </GlassContainer>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    ...StyleSheet.absoluteFillObject,
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  containerStyle: {
    position: 'absolute',
    top: 200,
    left: 50,
    width: 250,
    height: 100,
    flexDirection: 'row',
    alignItems: 'center',
    gap: 5,
  },
  glass1: {
    width: 60,
    height: 60,
    borderRadius: 30,
  },
  glass2: {
    width: 50,
    height: 50,
    borderRadius: 25,
  },
  glass3: {
    width: 40,
    height: 40,
    borderRadius: 20,
  },
});

Animated glass effect style

The glassEffectStyle prop accepts a config object with animate and animationDuration properties to natively animate transitions between glass styles. This is the recommended way to fade in/out the glass effect without modifying opacity.

Animated glass effect style

import { useState } from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View, Image, Pressable } from 'react-native';
import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function AnimatedGlassStyleExample() {
  const [visible, setVisible] = useState(true);

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.backgroundImage}>
        <Image
          style={{
            width: 300,
            height: 200,
          }}
          source={{
            uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
          }}
        />
        <GlassView
          style={styles.glassView}
          glassEffectStyle={{
            style: visible ? 'clear' : 'none',
            animate: true,
            animationDuration: 0.5,
          }}
        />
      </View>
      <Pressable style={styles.toggleButton} onPress={() => setVisible(prev => !prev)}>
        <Text style={styles.toggleButtonText}>{visible ? 'Hide' : 'Show'} Glass Effect</Text>
      </Pressable>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    height: 300,
    width: 300,
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    position: 'absolute',
  },
  glassView: {
    position: 'absolute',
    width: 200,
    height: 120,
    borderRadius: 12,
  },
  toggleButton: {
    position: 'absolute',
    bottom: 100,
    alignSelf: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#007AFF',
    paddingVertical: 14,
    paddingHorizontal: 24,
    borderRadius: 12,
  },
  toggleButtonText: {
    color: '#fff',
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
  },
});

Opacity animation workaround

Since setting opacity to 0 on GlassView or its parent views causes the glass effect to not render at all, you can use Reanimated to animate a wrapper view's opacity while toggling the glassEffectStyle between the desired style and 'none'.

Glass effect opacity animation workaround

import { GlassView } from 'expo-glass-effect';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View, Image, Pressable } from 'react-native';
import Animated, {
  useAnimatedProps,
  useAnimatedStyle,
  useSharedValue,
  withTiming,
} from 'react-native-reanimated';

const AnimatedGlassView = Animated.createAnimatedComponent(GlassView);

export default function GlassOpacityAnimationExample() {
  const fadeOpacity = useSharedValue(0);

  const glassViewProps = useAnimatedProps(() => {
    const glassEffectStyle = fadeOpacity.value > 0.01 ? 'regular' : 'none';
    return {
      glassEffectStyle,
      style: {
        width: 150,
        height: 100,
        borderRadius: 12,
        position: 'absolute',
      },
    };
  });

  const fadeOpacityStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    position: 'absolute',
    opacity: fadeOpacity.value,
    width: 150,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 12,
  }));

  return (
    <>
      <Text style={styles.title}>Opacity Animation Workaround (iOS 26.1+)</Text>
      <View style={styles.backgroundContainer}>
        <Image
          style={styles.backgroundImage}
          source={{
            uri: 'https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1506905925346-21bda4d32df4?w=400&h=400&fit=crop',
          }}
        />
        <Animated.View style={fadeOpacityStyle}>
          <AnimatedGlassView animatedProps={glassViewProps} />
        </Animated.View>
      </View>

      <Pressable
        style={styles.toggleButton}
        onPress={() => {
          fadeOpacity.value = withTiming(fadeOpacity.value > 0.5 ? 0 : 1, { duration: 500 });
        }}>
        <Text style={styles.toggleButtonText}>Toggle Glass Visibility</Text>
      </Pressable>
    </>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  title: {
    fontSize: 20,
    fontWeight: 'bold',
  },
  backgroundContainer: {
    height: 300,
    borderRadius: 12,
    overflow: 'hidden',
    position: 'relative',
  },
  backgroundImage: {
    width: '100%',
    height: '100%',
  },
  toggleButton: {
    backgroundColor: '#007AFF',
    paddingVertical: 14,
    paddingHorizontal: 24,
    borderRadius: 12,
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
  toggleButtonText: {
    color: '#fff',
    fontSize: 16,
    fontWeight: '600',
  },
});

`isLiquidGlassAvailable`

The isLiquidGlassAvailable function let's you check, if the Liquid Glass effect is available in the compiled application. It validates the system and compiler versions, as well as the Info.plist settings.

import { isLiquidGlassAvailable } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function CheckLiquidGlass() {
  return (
    <Text>
      {isLiquidGlassAvailable()
        ? 'Liquid Glass effect is available'
        : 'Liquid Glass effect is not available'}
    </Text>
  );
}

`isGlassEffectAPIAvailable`

The isGlassEffectAPIAvailable function checks whether the Liquid Glass API is available at runtime on the device.

This API was added because some iOS 26 beta versions do not have the Liquid Glass API available, which can lead to crashes. You should check this before using GlassView in your app to ensure compatibility. See GitHub issue #40911 for more information.

import { isGlassEffectAPIAvailable } from 'expo-glass-effect';

export default function CheckGlassEffectAPI() {
  return (
    <Text>
      {isGlassEffectAPIAvailable()
        ? 'Glass Effect API is available'
        : 'Glass Effect API is not available'}
    </Text>
  );
}

API

import {
  GlassView,
  GlassContainer,
  isLiquidGlassAvailable,
  isGlassEffectAPIAvailable,
} from 'expo-glass-effect';

Components

`GlassContainer`

iOS

tvOS

Type: React.Element<GlassContainerProps>

GlassContainerProps

`ref`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: Ref<View>

`spacing`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: number • Default: undefined

The distance at which glass elements start affecting each other. Controls when glass elements begin to merge together.

Inherited Props

ViewProps

`GlassView`

iOS

tvOS

Type: React.Element<GlassViewProps>

GlassViewProps

`colorScheme`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: GlassColorScheme • Default: 'auto'

The color scheme for the glass effect appearance. Use this to override the system appearance when your app has its own theme toggle.

`glassEffectStyle`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Literal type: union • Default: 'regular'

Glass effect style to apply to the view. Can be a simple string ('clear', 'regular', 'none') or a config object for controlling animation behavior.

Acceptable values are: GlassStyle | GlassEffectStyleConfig

`isInteractive`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: boolean • Default: false

Whether the glass effect should be interactive.

`ref`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: Ref<View>

`tintColor`

iOS

tvOS

Optional • Type: string

Tint color to apply to the glass effect.

Inherited Props

ViewProps

Methods

`isGlassEffectAPIAvailable()`

iOS

Checks whether the Liquid Glass API is available at runtime on the device.

This method was added because some iOS 26 beta versions do not have this API available, which can lead to crashes. You should check this before using GlassView and GlassContainer in your app to ensure compatibility.

Returns:

boolean

See: https://github.com/expo/expo/issues/40911

`isLiquidGlassAvailable()`

iOS

tvOS

Indicates whether the app is using the Liquid Glass design. The value will be true when the Liquid Glass components are available in the app.

This only checks for component availability. The value may also be true if the user has enabled accessibility settings that limit the Liquid Glass effect. To check if the user has disabled the Liquid Glass effect via accessibility settings, use AccessibilityInfo.isReduceTransparencyEnabled().

Returns:

boolean

Types

`GlassColorScheme`

iOS

tvOS

Literal Type: string

Acceptable values are: 'auto' | 'light' | 'dark'

`GlassEffectStyleConfig`

iOS

tvOS

Property	Type	Description
animate(optional)	`boolean`	Whether to animate the style change. Default:`false`
animationDuration(optional)	`number`	Duration of the animation in seconds. Uses system default if not specified.
style	`GlassStyle`	The glass effect style to apply.

`GlassStyle`

iOS

tvOS

Literal Type: string

Acceptable values are: 'clear' | 'regular' | 'none'